A close network of canals cross the whole of the Leogra Valley(1) from S. Antonio di Valli del Pasubio to Schio, where the most important section which is the Maestra Canal winds through the town. This was excavated towards the middle of the thirteenth century, it has seen corn mills, cloth fullers, sawmills, forges, wool mills, tanneries and dye-works spring up along its banks(2); it has irrigated fields, moved water wheels and turbines, provided steam and produced electricity; it has been the pulsating centre of proto-industry and a valid instrument during the initial phase of industrial expansion in the valley.

The origins of the Canal are not known with precision: there is a document from 1284 which certifies the possession and exploitation of the Schio area by the Maltraversi Counts; we can assume that, by this date, the artificial Canal had already been in use for many years but we have no evidence before the 13th century.
Up to the 17th century it crossed the inhabited part of Schio having its source on the orographical left side of the Leogra, below where it joins the Gogna torrent. At a later date, as can be seen on the map of 1737(3), it was joined by the waters from a section of another canal in Pievebelvicino coming from the orographical right side, level with Torrebelvicino, by means of a ‘Roston’, i.e. a dam on the bed of the Leogra. The present canal layout, which dates back to the second half of the 19th century and the work of Alessandro Rossi, has remained unaltered at its northernmost source and along its course except for the replacement of the Roston dam by the Ponte Canale (1883).

The importance of the Canal is demonstrated by the number of productive enterprises which have been established alongside its banks ever since the Middle Ages, by the fact that the town of Schio has spread and developed along its course, and by the various articles of the ancient By-laws (1393) expressly dedicated to the maintenance and protection of the Canal from pollution and obstructions caused by waste, which resulted not only from ancient corn grinding or domestic use but also from the numerous handicraft activities involving hide, wool and metal processing.

In 1978 the Schio Council reconstructed a map, based on surveys and land register maps(4), which shows three fullers, various ‘buildings’ which were productive establishments and a corn mill along the course of the Canal in 1595.
Between the 17th and 18th Centuries, the entrepreneurial activity along the Canal witnessed steady growth, consisting of a large increase in corn grinding and fulling which reached its peak when the Solemn Council of Vicenza decided to grant Schio the privilege of manufacturing ‘wide cloth’(1701). From that moment, all the owners of corn or fulling wheels submitted petitions(5) to the Procurators of Uncultivated Goods in order to be granted permission to change the ‘brake’ wheels into wheels for fulling, ‘teaselling’ and ‘cottonising cloth’ and then proceed with the processing of raw wool and its transformation into valuable bolts. Activity on the Canal intensified during the following years. At the beginning of the 18th century, 12 corn mills, 5 fullers and 5 dye-works were in operation. In 1770 : 11 fullers, 12 wheels for teaselling cloth, 30 corn wheels, 3 copper and iron forges. In 1790: 22 fullers, 23 wheels for teaselling cloth, 27 corn mills and 1 copper and iron forge. In 1795: 44 wheels exploiting the energy of the Canal, half of which was used for corn grinding and half for the proto-industry.
The Schio economy was deeply shaken by the Napoleonic revolution: in the period between 1808 and 1810 the number of wheels fell from 44 to 26, a sign of the uneasiness caused by the political events, of the disorientation of production and trade and, lastly, a sign of the delay in technological modernisation. In the space of the following period 1813-15 the number of wheels further decreased: the manufacturing class was reduced, only a few entrepreneurs remained in business while most abandoned their enterprises and gave up their buildings and rights to the water exploited by the wheels.
By the middle of the 19th century the Canal was mainly exploited by corn mills (5), fullers (4), cloth factories (6): with respect to the Napoleonic period it is obvious that Austrian competition had forced the small companies to reduce their production, which fell from 25000 bolts annually in 1815 to 9000 bolts in 1844.
At this point the Rossi epoch had already begun, industry was concentrated in the Rossi, Cazzola and Conte Wool Mills, and other concerns concentrated in the Peron Sawmill, presently Dalla Vecchia, the De Lorenzi Cylinder Mill in Vicolo Pilastro and the De Pretto Engineering Company on the edge of the built-up area.

page 1/2 | page 2/2